Mass Effect 1- The Hunt
by garganta
Summary: This is a story that follows roughly the first game, with some liberties taken by me. It will not focus on Shepard, but more so on my OC Daniel McCallahan and Nyreen Kandros from the Omega DLC in ME3 and their relationship. Hope you are still in for the ride on the Normandy SR1! Relationships will be OC/Nyreen (I mean come on she's cool as heck) and FemShep/Garrus.
1. Chapter 1- The Beginning

**A/N: so I had this idea for way too long and I really had a hard time writing it down but I rang with myself and here it is. There may be some details incorrect like a certain timeframe somewhere or sth like that and if that's the case pls tell me and I will see if it is correctable. If not then well, this is a fanfic and I took a few liberties here and there with small stuff. I don't know how regularly this will be updated, right now I am most motivated to write this (huh, this sounds like I was motivated to write sth else before and that ain't true). Yeah, that's about it, read and reaview pls, enjoy.**

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The passengers streamed out of the ship after it arrived at the docking bay in Omega. Batarians, Asari, Volus- they all were there. There was not much chatter as one would expect, but they weren't there because Omega was an exciting place for tourism and an interesting and rich culture. When someone chose Omega as a travelling goal it usually was because he or she wanted to disappear.

It was obvious in their body language- anxious, fidgeting, obviously often stealing looks over their shoulders to catch a potential follower.

One of the passengers though obviously knew where he wanted to go, purposefully stalking his way through the docking bay, leaving the area behind him. He kept walking in his fast stride, more than once roughly pushing his way through a group of people, never once looking behind.

It wasn't the first time he was here. He knew Omega like the back of his hand. There were probably only two beings in the entire galaxy who knew Omega better than he did and that was hard. He knew the stench of Omega, a mixture of dirty atmosphere, dirty streets, betrayal, back stabbing, ruthlessness and drugs. With a soft heart you had no chance of survival in Omega, you would be robbed and killed in some dark alley within the first 2 days, your body left to rot and never to be found again. Yes, Omega offered more than one way to disappear from the surface of the galaxy.

Reaching his goal, a supposedly empty warehouse, he knocked three times at its gates, waiting for it to open.

"Who is it?" A flanging female voice asked through the door.

"Nyreen, it's me." Came the answer.

The gate promptly opened, rolling itself upwards. Out stepped a female turian with a silvery white facial plating and red colony markings, wearing light armor, painted red with golden details. She lacked the crest of horns that were typical for the males of her species and her mandibles were less pronounced but the fringes on the side of her face, around her eyes, were more feathery in appearance than on the males. She crossed her arms over her chest and regarded him with quite amusement, her mandibles fluttering, taking in the human male in front of her, not having seen him for over 2 years.

But he hadn't changed much. Still muscular, even looking ridiculously _hard_ for someone of his species when nearly all the rest just looked _soft _and fragile. His right arm still covered in this colorful and permanent painting he called _tattoos_, from shoulder to wrist and she could see just under the sleeve of his tight fitting t-shirt that he started doing the same to his left arm now, the tattoos just reaching past his biceps. He wasn't ridiculously bulky, by no means, but firm and strong, that she could see. He also wore his light armor over his t-shirt, like he always did, colored in black with red and white details like it always was, and his arms were unprotected like they always were. His hands were protected, he wore greaves, but he never covered his arms as long as it did not snow the way it did in Noveria.

"_I need maximum mobility in my arm."_ He always said. She thought he just wanted to show off his paintings.

When she looked at his face, she could see the same apathetic, serious face and the same melancholic look in his grey eyes. _Yes, he really has hardly changed at all._

"It has been quite some time, Dan, and you wouldn't believe me if I told you just _how_ curious I am to find out just _what_ exactly brought you here." Nyreen said, her voice betraying her curiosity.

"I found him."

It was a simple answer, just three words, but the magnitude alone of these words was enough. Not for her directly, but for the only person in this galaxy she really cared about, and that was enough for her to become serious in an instand.

"Come on in and tell me everything."

* * *

Nyreen was busy packing her small duffel bag. It wasn't like she had many possessions. The most important ones were her weapons, her beloved Vindicator and her Carnifex. Other than that she only had to pack enough food and other essentials.

Her mind drifted back to what Dan had just told her, something that was still hard to grasp.

_The gate rolled down after Dan stepped inside the warehouse, dim lights the only illumination in Nyreen's makeshift living place._

"_You found him? Saren?" Nyreen asked, wasting no time. _"How?"

_Dan stared past Nyreen for a few seconds before he stared her right in her green eyes. "A contact of mine heard rumors about Geth activity beyond the veil. Intercepted pirate ships. Mercenary transports. Led on by a turian. A spectre."_

_Her eyes widening and mandibles flaring, Nyreen's mind went into overdrive. _A Turian spectre? Leading Geth?

"_Are you certain?" She had to ask. She didn't like Saren, by no means, but if this was true…she didn't want to even think about were this could possibly go._

"_One hundred percent. That contact that fed me these rumors is my most valued. He didn't just listen into one rumor from one group. He covered every possible group and branch and he heard every time the same thing: Turian. Spectre. Leading Geth. And something else…apparently he is looking for something. No one knows what but he does never more than boarding their ships, searching their cargo, not finding what he looks for and leaves. Usually with the cargo destroyed and whoever tries to intervene just gets killed."_

_He looked at her with those haunted grey eyes of his. Whenever she looked him in the eyes she felt drawn to him in a way she could not describe. From the very beginning, from the moment he stopped her from making the biggest mistake of her life, she felt drawn to him…as she did now._

_She took a step towards him as he leaned against a wall, stretched out a hand towards him which he took and pulled her towards him. He now stood upright, they were pretty much the same height, and she pressed herself at him, sneaking her arms around him the same way he sneaked his arms around her, a low purr erupting from deep inside her throat._

"_Sounds like him." She said in a low voice._

"_Yeah." Was his rumbled reply._

_She tightened her arms around him. "How do you know what he is going to do next?"_

"_I don't. But my contact has information for me. We have to meet him on the Citadel."_

_Her mandibles fluttered in confusion. "We?"_

"_Yeah. I need you. Can't do this alone."_

Shaking her head to concentrate on her packing again, she went again through her packing list, trying to remember if she packed everything.

Satisfied that she had everything packed, she closed her bag and sealed it shut.

"Let's go." She said, slinging the bag over a shoulder.

She still had more than half of the bag empty. It saddened her, how much of her old life from before the Cabal units had gone lost. But that was a closed book now. She could never go back. She only had one person left that meant anything to her.

"Do you have tickets for a transport to the Citadel?" She asked, glancing sideways at Dan.

"Don't need to. Organized a…private…transport for us."

She nodded.

They made the rest of their way towards the docking bay in silence. They never were much for smalltalk. They both preferred to be straight to the point. And when there was nothing else to talk about they enjoyed the silence. Silence hardly ever was uncomfortable between them.

Half an hour later they reached the docking bay of their ship, the pilot a Batarian. The pilot gave Dan a nod. Dan nodded back. They boarded the ship, as did the pilot, and they took off.

Sometimes you really did not have to talk at all.

* * *

The Citadel was just the right way for Dan to hate it. Clean, fake and rich. Most of all he hated the 'rich'-part. The rich politicians, spewing their lies of "unity" and "helping the worker class", "rooting out the corruption". The rich business people and their idea of having success, no matter by what means the success is achieved. He could nearly _smell _the corruption for it lingered in every corner, behind every smile of every person here. Omega at least didn't lie, didn't hide it's corruption. Omega didn't try to look pretty.

"I don't like this place either."

Dan looked at Nyreen, the small turian smirk gracing her features.

"It stinks more than Omega does." Dan answered with his deep voice.

He run a hand through his short dark hair, sighing.

Their taxi reached the financial district in the presidium. They left it and walked briskly to Barla Von's office. As the the door to the office opened they saw a small group of Alliance soldiers there, the leader, a woman, in the middle talking in a low voice with the Volus, while the other two, a man with dark hair and another woman with tanned skin and dark hair stood one at her left and one at her right.

Dan and Nyreen glanced at each other, both silently agreeing to just wait. They both perked up though when Von said that the Shadow Broker was betrayed by Saren.

"What do you mean, Saren betrayed the Shadow Broker?" Dan spoke up, ignoring the curious glances from the three soldiers.

Taking a deep breath, typical for his species that originated from Irune, a world with a high-pressure greenhouse atmosphere, the Volus looked at Dan. "Daniel," another deep breath, "I expect you are here for our exchange."

"Yes, now give me what you were paid for." Dan growled, walking towards the Volus, just to be stopped by the three soldiers readying themselves to quickly draw their weapons should the situation arise.

"You are…?" The woman in the middle, with black hair, barely reaching past her jaw line, and dark blue eyes, asked, with an eyebrow raised in question.

Barely able to hide is frustration he answered through clenched teeth. "Daniel McCallahan."

Looking pointedly past Dan and straight at the Turian behind him, the alliance soldier asked the Turian the same question silently.

Taking a few steps to stand next to Dan, Nyreen answered. "Nyreen Kandros."

"Commander Jane Shepard of the Alliance Navy, Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko," she nodded at the man to her right, "and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams," nodding to her left. "So, Daniel McCallahan and Nyreen Kandros, care to elaborate what your business with Saren is?" The woman in the middle asked.

"It is personal business I have with him. Or, if you want me to put it this way: it is none of your business." Dan answered, his voice not wavering or giving any other indication that his patience with these soldiers was starting to wear thin.

The woman's face turned stone cold at that, her subordinates bristled at the lack of respect the stranger showed their Commander. "Saren Arterius is a rogue Spectre, he basically destroyed Eden Prime with his Geth and killed another Spectre in called blood. If you have any evidence against him and are withholding it I can bust you in."

"I know not more as you do at the moment. But I might very soon no more. Now would you back off?" With that he pushed past the Alliance soldiers and looked down at the Volus, feeling Nyreen close behind him and feeling the eyes of Commander Shepard and her subordinates burning in his back.

"Now tell me what I paid you to tell me." Dan stared the Volus down.

Taking a deep breath the Volus started to talk. "Spectre Saren did not betray- _chhhht_- the Shadow Broker directly. He- _chhhht_- stole one of his Agents, Fist." He paused to take another deep breath. "You should also pay a Visit to- _chhhht_- Dr. Michel."

Satisfied to have two names that connected at least _somehow_ with Saren, Dan turned to leave only to be stopped in his tracks by Shepard and her lackeys. "_What_?"

"_I_ am investigating Saren's case. _You_ do not. So _you_ will back off. If I see you anywhere near the Fist or I will bust you. This is my only warning." With that she turned around and left Barla Von's office.

Stunned for only a moment, he shook his head and glanced at Nyreen. She just nodded, a turian smirk on her face and that was enough for them to go, to go and visit Dr. Michel.

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**Don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2- The Collective

**A/N: Second chap. Hope you enjoyed the first. The history between Nyreen and Dan will be cleared up at some point and where there relationship actually stands will too. And please do not expect me to update daily, this was just kind of lucky because I wrote and finished this yesterday right after the first chap and yeah, be prepared to wait one week or more for updates as the story progresses. **

**Read and review!**

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Dan and Nyreen arrived in short time at the Upper Wards where Dr. Michel's clinic was supposed to be. It also didn't take long for them to hear shots and shouts out of the clinic which caused them to curse and sprint the rest of the way and they burst inside, seeing several dead, a flustered Turian with dark grey face plating and blue colony markings being yelled at by the Commander, a nearly hysterical red haired woman that probably was Dr. Michel and the two subordinates of the Commander glaring at them suspiciously.

"Commander," the male subordinate- wasn't it Alenko?- spoke up. "We have uninvited guests."

The Commander turned around, still frowning, still in a bad mood- _worst day ever_- and stared them down. "I thought I made myself pretty clear."

The turian, relieved to have that angry human female out of his face for a moment, decided to tend to Dr. Michel, trying to calm her down.

Dan just stared right back at the Commander, Nyreen silently beside him. "Didn't care then, don't care now. I need to talk to Dr. Michel."

Shepard was just about to start yelling again when Nyreen held up a hand and turned to Dan. She said something in his ear that caused him to reluctantly- obviously reluctantly, eye rolling and all- agree to whatever she suggested, as he nodded with a heavy sigh. The Turian female, turned towards her and spoke up. "Commander, we have all the same goals, we want to get Saren, for whatever reason is not important. We could benefit from each other. We could help each other out."

The other Turian perked up at that. "I want to come with you too, commander. I want to catch Saren as bad as anyone else here."

"Vakarian?" Nyreen's mandibles twitched in curiosity.

Dan glanced at Nyreen curiously. "You know him?"

"Yes, we served both at the same military group before I was shipped off to the Cabal."

"Yes, I remember. Didn't last long with the Cabal though, from what I heard at least." Vakarian smirked at her.

"OK, we had our introductions, that's nice, but what now, you three want to help me bust Saren?" Shepard interrupted them.

She nodded at three affirmatives and turned to Vakarian. "You can come with us." She couldn't hide the smirk at the obvious excitement that she got out of him after this news. The smirk quickly dulled though as she turned to Nyreen and Dan. "I don't know what to think of you two." She looked at Dan. "You obviously don't want to tell me what you want from Saren and because of that I do not know if you will be a potential danger in this or not. But you seem to be open to suggestions." His face kept being impassive, his frown in place, which mad her frown in response. "I'll take you both with me for now." She got a small nod from both of them after that, and frowns from her subordinates. "But you have to follow my orders. Give me one reason, just one single reason and you are out. Fast." She sighed and messaged her temple, obviously getting a headache. Turning around she regarded the doctor. "Now, can you please tell us what's up with these thugs in your clinic?"

* * *

At the suggestion from Garrus Vakarian, who happened to be a C-Sec officer, they went back to C-Sec to get the Krogan bounty hunter who was after Fist's head per a contract with the Shadow Broker before they to get to Fist to find out where that Quarian girl was that apparently had dirt on Saren.

They went to Chora's Den after the Krogan, Urdnot Wrex, agreed to join them and so, between the seven of them they made fast work of Fist's thugs.

After they disabled Fist's turrets, they finally could talk to him.

"Where's the Quarian?" The Commander didn't beat around the bush.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Fist shouted at them back, obviously fearing for his life if all that sweating and shivering was any indicator.

"Sniveling coward…" Dan muttered to himself, Nyreen and Garrus heard him though and nodded in agreement.

Shepard could just sigh at that wannabe crime lord. "I know for a fact that a Quarian girl came to you to get protection from the Shadow Broker in turn for information on Saren Arterius. So, where is she?"

"I-I tricked her, ok? I set her up. She's supposed to meet Saren's thugs in a nearby alleyway. Please leave me alone now, I told you what you wanted t-" He was cut off as a shotgun tore a gaping hole in his chest.

Shepard was shocked for a moment but turned towards Wrex, shouting right in his face. "What the hell were you thinking?! You do not shoot unarmed people under my command!"

"I had a contract. I fulfilled my contract." Wrex answered coolly.

"He was scum anyways. No one's going to miss him. He'd be dead sooner or later. Bloody fool if he thought that betraying the Shadow Broker would go unanswered." Dan added.

Shepard looked at them both with fire in her eyes. "I do not care. No one, _no one_ kills unarmed people under my command. If this happens again you are out. And I mean that for anybody. No come, we've got a Quarian to save."

With that she stormed out the rest following more or less close behind. Dan could only laugh at the puppy eyes full of adoration Alenko burned in his Commanders back and he also realized the small look of admiration, a flicker that only lasted for a second, on Vakarian's face after she fearlessly yelled at that hulking Krogan's face.

But what really got to him were the stolen looks Williams shot towards him. He didn't know what that was about, if she was sizing him up or checking him out, he didn't know but it grated on his nerves.

* * *

They just got there in time to pull that Quarian girl's- Tali'Zora nar Rayya- ass out of the fire. And she had dirt on Saren, real dirt.

Dan never thought he'd ever meet the human Ambassador, Udina, in person, but what he saw on the extranet about him never really did him justice. When Shepard stepped inside his office, followed by Alenko and Williams, and _then_ there was the rest of them, a human vigilante, a Turian ex-merc and now vigilante, a Turian C-Sec officer, a Quarian girl in the middle of her pilgrimage, a Krogan bounty hunter. And he looked down on them with a look of disdain that made Dan want to punch his face to a pulp. Just from looking at him all his senses screamed _corrupt!_ He was the kind of politician that made Dan want to vomit. On Udina's super expensive shoes.

Next to Udina though stood another Alliance guy. Probably Shepard's superior.

Tali played the audio evidence she removed from a Geth platform and that was enough for Udina to set up a meeting with the council so he could shove them the truth about Saren right in their throats. Shepard and her two subordinates followed Udina after telling them to wait at C-Sec for her return.

So they waited. Dan and Nyreen were sitting on chairs next to each other, he reading news on his omni-tool and she observing the coming and going as it went on in C-Sec. Garrus wrote his report _and_ told his boss that he quit his job at C-Sec. He was set on convincing Shepard to take him with her. Tali was sitting a couple of chairs away from them, fiddling on her omni-tool and Wrex leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. But he was not quite for long.

"So," he began with his deep rumbling voice, drawing the attention from the other three present, "what is it with these paintings on your arms?"

Closing the extranet- page on his omni- tool, he answered. "They're called tattoos. It's a human body art and it's permanent. As for the motives…they are personal. I'll tell you so much: some are to remember the people I killed and some for the people I lost. But most for the ones I killed."

At that Wrex grinned, as Dan expected. But he also saw from the corner of his eye how the young Quarian, after listening silently, scooted a little farther away from them. If consciously or unconsciously, he couldn't say.

Dan returned back to his news site, but closed it again after only a few minutes. He turned his head to look at Nyreen who kept fidgeting on her seat, obviously restless.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"Do you remember what I told you about the stress response of the Turian biology?" He nodded. "I need to let of some steam really soon, all this running and fighting riled me up!" She hissed at him, her mandibles tight on her face in embarrassment.

He glanced around, looking for a place to go but finding nothing he sighed and looked at her. "Can you wait another hour?" He asked, taking her hand in his, threading their fingers together.

She squeezed tightly down on his fingers, almost painfully and let out a sigh. "Yeah, I think I can. But if not I will take you to the next bathroom and I don't care if there's someone in there or not."

He chuckled lowly at that. "No complaints from me."

Wrex, having listened, gave a snort at that, Tali turned her head away in embarrassment.

* * *

They saw Udina and Anderson walk through C-Sec and using the elevator to go up to the docking bay.

Garrus came back from his office just shortly before the Commander returned with Alenko and Williams half an hour later and announced her new status as the first human Spectre, receiving nods and pats on her shoulder in congratulation.

After thanking them she held her hands up to quiet them down. "So, I have thought about it the whole way to the council and the whole way back from the council until I got here. There was a reason I asked you to wait. The reason is that you are all exceptionally skilled in one way or another and I need additional guns on this mission to track down Saren. That is my job and I need the very best. So, who is in?"

Dan knew he had to and he knew Nyreen would be with him, so he and both put their arms up in affirmative. The other three joined them soon after with their respective '_yes_' and with that they used the elevator up themselves, the commander telling them to board the ship.

And it was impressive, Dan had to admit. The infamous Normandy SR1. The collaborate work between humans and Turians. Who would've thought that this was Commander Shepard's ship.

They stepped through the airlock and went inside, Nyreen immediately moving towards the pilot. "Where can I be undisturbed for the next 1 to 2 hours?"

"Wha-? Who the hell are you?" He asked in utter confusion.

The Commander obviously heared Joker as she stepped inside, answering his question. "Joker, that's Nyreen Kandros and that-", she nodded at Dan's direction. "Is Daniel McCallahan. They are with us in this." She turned towards Dan and Nyreen. "That's Joker, our pilot. Pretty much the best the Alliance has to offer right now…" She trailed off and raised an eyebrow at Nyreen. "You OK?"

"Yes," She grit out between clenched teeth. "But I really need a place where I can be undisturbed for the next 1 to 2 hours."

"Okay…the second deck, the quarters, you should find something there."

With a quick thanks to the Commander, Nyreen took Dan's hand, pulled him with her as she rushed up the stairs, found an empty room and quickly hacked the door closed, completely ignoring any stares they got or the speech the Commander was holding right now. She then turned to look at Dan. Her Dan. The Daniel that saved her from the biggest mistake she ever could have made. The Dan for whom she had been with no one throughout the 2 years he was gone just because she _couldn't_; she tried but just _couldn't_, and the strain building up and always building up. Touching herself, trying to relieve herself of that stress, that terrible stress, the bane of her Turian biology, that built up during the waiting and not knowing if he would ever come back again, and it just, _just_ about sated her that it was somehow bearable. And then came today. All this running and those fire fights. But now he was here. She was here.

He smiled at her. A soft smile on his hardened face. His eyes would always scream at her in sadness and burn in silent anger. But that smile tore at her heart- because he never smiled.

But now he did. He smiled and opened his arms slightly for her and she stepped in, engulfed in his scent and she looked in his eyes again and he stared back.

"Do you remember when I told you about the Turian equivalent for kissing?"

"Yeah."

So he inched his head towards hers, pressing his forehead at hers as she pressed back and slid his fingers up her back, touching the plating-free, leathery skin of her neck and inching slowly over her mandibles, making her purr. But she didn't need soft touches.

"No foreplay. I waited long enough."

He didn't complain.

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**Do not forget to review!**


	3. Chapter 3- The Preparation

**Soooo, thanks for the reviews NisPi and Mousey57. Very much appreciated. Not much will be happening in this chapter, the next will speed up a bit though. This one will give you a bit insight on Dan and Nyreen though, but still, there's a long way to go and we barely scratched on the first one. And if there's any typos or really obvious mistakes, please feel free to PM me about them or point them out in reviews. **

**That being said, read and enjoy.**

* * *

Dan, freshly showered after he helped Nyreen _relieving_ her stress, stepped into the kitchen section of the crew deck, clothed in military slacks of the Alliance, since he did not have much spare clothing himself.

He cared for Nyreen and if he was honest with himself, and that was not very often the case, he only cared for Nyreen. She was the only one left for him in this _screwed up_ galaxy. The only one he wanted to be close to, the only one deserving of his feelings. Since his early childhood, when he built that impenetrable ice block around himself, impenetrable and unyielding, she was the only one he allowed in. She was the only one who really saw the raw darkness that consumed his very soul and the fire, that hot anger, burning in the depth of this darkness.

Nyreen was the only one who still lived and _knew_.

Shaking his head to clear his head from these thoughts he saw Nyreen there, talking with the other Turian, Garrus Vakarian.

Seeing Dan she motioned for him to sit next to her and so he did, nodding a greeting at Garrus' direction.

"Feeling better?" He asked her.

"Much, thanks to your never being able to turn down an opportunity to help." Nyreen smirked at him.

"I'd be a bloody fool to turn an opportunity like that down."

Her mandibles flared outwards, baring her sharp teeth in a Turian grin. "Damn right." She turned back to Garrus. "So, what did you do after I was shipped off to the Cabal?"

As Garrus began talking Dan stood up to fill himself a cup of coffee, sitting back next to Nyreen with a steaming mug in his hands. Closing his eyes he tried to relax, trying to tune down the flanging voice of both Turians to a background humming, letting his mind wander. He knew already where the wandering might end, it was always the same, it was always the now- officially- rogue spectre.

Now closer than ever before, he felt the excitement growing inside him. When they would get to Saren he would kill him. He knew he would and no one would stop him, consequences be damned and he knew there would be consequences because he would interfere in a Council mission. Not just Alliance, but Council, the representatives of all space faring species in the galaxy. And he didn't give a single fuck about it.

"Dan."

He was startled out of his thought process by an insistent voice. "Huh?"

"The commander was asking you a question. You were pretty far gone." Nyreen explained, her mandibles set in a small Turian frown. He was pretty sure that she had at least an inkling on where he was with his thoughts and he knew she didn't like it.

Dan looked around and caught the Commander's amused look, her arms folded over her chest, hips cocked to one side. Taking a sip of his coffee, he looked again at the commander. "Yes?"

"I wanted to ask you a few questions. I did my rounds in the ship and since you and Nyreen uhh…weren't available," she coughed, trying to hide the small blush appearing on her cheeks since she had a _very_ good idea why those two were not available, "only you two are left. I am trying to get to know the new additions of the ground squad better, what your specialties in battle are since shooting up a few thugs in a sleazy bar didn't show me much, what you were doing before this mission…," she paused for a moments before letting out a sigh, "…and I really would love to hear just what your business with Saren is but I don't think you will share that anytime soon so let's just keep this easy. First I want to ask you a few questions, then Nyreen." She took a look at the female Turian, realizing that she and the former C-Sec officer had ceased their chat, Garrus saying something about giving them some privacy and checking out the ground vehicles.

Dan thought for a few moments than motioned for the Commander to take a seat across him on the other side of the table, feeling slightly awkward for offering her one on her own ship. "Alright. Go ahead."

Sitting down, the commander put her elbows on the table, folding her hands and resting her chin on them, staring him intently in the eyes with her piercing dark blue gaze.

"So, what use can you be for me on the battlefield, aside from the obvious?"

"I am good with electronic devices, probably one of the best of the human race. And I have a huge awareness level of a battlefield. Whenever I can, I use it to my advantage. If I have to, I can follow orders."

He kept his tone cool, his face not betraying a single emotion or a single thought. He knew that Shepard wanted more than simple answers and he was not willing to play this little game of hers.

"Where have you gained your talents? Assessing your battlefield is something you usually learn in military drills."

"Electronic devices were just a curiosity. I tend to read a lot and usually it is not a novel that I read. And to have a natural talent for things like that was useful either. The other thing…let's just say that if you switch from mercenary group to mercenary group learning to shoot is inevitable and you usually do not shoot in a real warzone but in alleys, streets, industry sites…you _really_ have to assess your surroundings if you want to get out of there still breathing."

She nodded, seeming satisfied with his answer, but something got her curious. "Mercenary groups? You were a merc?"

"Yeah. No major group, mostly small fry in comparison to the Suns, Eclipse or Blood Pack."

Her brows furrowing slightly, the Commander regarded him with a calculating look, her blue eyes piercing his grey ones. "Do you still have any contact to any of your former mercenary associates?"

"No."

Again giving a slight satisfied nod, she leaned back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other, her hands folded over her stomach. "Something more personal now, out of pure curiosity." She looked from Dan to Nyreen and back. "How do you two know each other? You seem to be…_really_ close."

This time it was Nyreen who spoke up. "Daniel pretty much saved me some 4 or 5 years ago from a really stupid decision I was about to make. I left the Cabal unit and with that the military not long before, joined a couple minor mercenary groups, didn't really know what to do. Some time later I landed in Omega, without knowledge about this place, no real purpose and I was about to get…involved…with someone but Dan prevented me from it."

Shepard listened intently, he had slightly dipped to the side in obvious concentration, not wanting to miss anything, any nuances she could catch, any obvious lies she could miss or hidden truths between the lines. It was an easier task with humans, her own species having so many muscles in the face alone, making micro expressions possible, little twitches in the facial muscles betraying a lie or baring hidden anger. Turians however where so much harder to read, with their facial plates and always predatory looking eyes and their bodies were controlled, trained in the rigid Turian military training, drilled in the hierarchy and she didn't understand the way their mandibles worked with their expressions enough to really assess anything out of it and the nuances of their subharmonics was completely lost to her.

"I remember Garrus saying something about you being shipped off to the Cabal, back at Dr. Michel's. The Cabal is the biotic special unit in the hierarchy, right?" Shepard asked.

Nyreen only scoffed at that. "The Cabal is the worst thing that can happen to a soldier of the hierarchy. They are not respected. Turians are wary of biotics at best." She took a breath, trying to suppress the anger bubbling deep in her gut. "When I was shipped of there, I knew that all my talents, my experiences and my knowledge would be forgotten, I would never again be able to use my skills in full capacity, never be able to hone them. So I left."

The Commander looked a little surprised at that revelation. "Never knew that Turians thought so little of biotics."

A humorless laughter escaped Nyreens mouth plates. "We hardly get talked about and if we get talked about it is not in a positive light."

"Well, know that your biotic skills will be counted as an important asset, since aside from Alenko and Wrex we have no biotics and they both are not even specialized there. Your skills will be most valuable. Do you have any other skills that would be useful in the battlefield?"

"I was one of the best hand- to- hand combatants in the military. In close quarters I will be most valuable for your team." Nyreen answered confidently, leaning back in her chair.

Nodding, Shepard rose from her chair, looking at them both. "Very good, that will be all for now. Our first goal is to extracting Liara T'soni, daughter of Matriarch T'soni and an archeologist specialized in Protheans. She is assumed to be in Therum. Since it's supposed to be a simple extraction mission I will take a small team down there including me and two others. I will decide when we are close."

They both nodded, it made sense. Turning to leave for her quarters, Shepard turned around again, a small smile ghosting her lips.

"Oh, before I forget: welcome aboard the Normandy."

* * *

The ground crew was assembled in the conference room, everyone seated. The commander had Ashley and Kaidan on her left and right; Tali, Garrus and Wrex sat next to each other across from them, Nyreen between Wrex and Dan.

Clearing her throat, the Commander spoke up. "Alright, this is our first ground mission and it _was_ supposed to be an easy one. But Joker picked up on Geth activity on the planet, that means Saren and the Matriarch had the same idea with Dr. T'soni. I don't know if it was the Matriarch's idea or Sarens' and to be honest, I don't care. What I do care about though is the fact that she is better off on the Normandy than with Saren. We need to find her and we need to get her out of there." She paused for a moment, letting her words sink in.

"Originally I planned with only a three-men-squad but that idea is blown with the Geth down there."

The Commander took out several datapads, gave them to Alenko who handed them around the room so everyone had one.

"This is the information that was gathered about the doctor's last dig-sites and where she planned to go next. According to that, her next plan was to study a ruin on Therum. That was 2 days ago."

Brows and brow plates rose up at that news and a grunt rumbled somewhere in between that to.

"2 days ago?" Garrus spoke up. "How do we know that she is still there?"

While her subordinates answered with a small and a fierce glare, that caused is mandibles twitch in irritation, the commander regarded him with a small smile.

"Good question actually, but the answer is simple: Geth activity." She suppressed the chuckle that threatened to escape her throat at the _'oh'_ from Garrus. "I hate to admit it, but the Geth activity is a good sign, giving us reason to hope that they either did not find the doctor just yet or that they found her but she managed to hide or escape. Or both."

She regarded them all again with that intense gaze, her piercing blue eyes seemingly looking at and seeing their very thoughts.

"The three- men- squad will remain," she continued, "and it will include Garrus, Nyreen and myself."

While Nyreen and Garrus nodded, both with mandibles flared wide in a Turian grin, Williams had her brows furrowed in a deep frown, almost pouting, which made Dan nearly laugh out loud. Alenko though was more vocal about the Commander's decision.

"Ma'am, if I may ask, why don't you take at least one of us with you?" He gestured between himself and Williams. "You know how we fight and-"

"Enough, LT." Shepard's voice grew stern. "Yes, I know your capabilities and I know the Gunnery Chief's capabilities. That's why I take Kandros and Vakarian with me, to see what they are capable of. They also know real military training, probably the very best out there in the galaxy and _that_ is something that assures me, even though they are practically unknowns to me in regards of their battle capabilities, that they will perform the way I expect them to in a high priority mission. I will hear no more of it."

Dan smirked at the sulking Lieutenant, highly amused at the way his crush _slash_ commanding Officer crushed his complains.

"So, now that _that_ is out of the way," Shepard continued, shooting a sideway glare at her LT, "you may want to scroll to the next page on your datapads. There you will see the outline of the ruin's interior and exterior. The three- man- squad will drop down with the mako, a bit away from the ruins since the Normandy can't get close without immediate detection. Without resistance it will probably be around 30 minutes away and the readings do not show much resistance in that area." She regarded the rest of her ground squad before turning to Alenko. "You will lead the rest of the ground squad."

Kaidan's eyes grew huge at that and Dan nearly groaned out loud. _That wimp was supposed to lead him and a Krogan battlemaster?_ He glanced at Wrex and saw him thinking the same.

"Me?" He nearly squeaked.

"Yes, you. You are my LT, are you not?" Shepard nearly rolled her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am. Of course. I will do my best."

"Good, I expect nothing less. So, the rest of you will be lead by my LT Alenko. I expect that you respect his commands and that you follow them. But if he does make an incredibly stupid call that would lead to avoidable and unnecessary deaths you are of course free to disobey. But only then. I need soldiers, not robots."

All of them nodded and Dan secretly sighed out. There was a way out if he did make stupid calls.

"The LT's squad will be dropped on a plateau near the ruins, estimated 10 minutes away by foot and you will have to go by foot, the mako has no moving room there. That area has the most Geth activity, so don't do anything stupid. I want you to shoot any Geth you see and look for hostages on the way to the ruins, ideally one of the hostages could be T'soni. If you root out any Geth resistance on your way than the ruin area would be clear. My team will take out any Geth we see but from the readings it should be, as I said before, a mostly uneventful drive." Shepard gave her squad again a once over. "The mako squad will be dropped first, the LT's squad next. Our drive will mostly be silent and we need to keep it that way as long as possible because sooner or later one Geth will see us and the rest will know soon. To keep the resistance to a minimum the ground squad needs to take out as much Geth as possible, so there attention will be divided, most of it to the supposedly greater threat. So, any questions?"

When no one answered, she nodded and stood up. "Alright, you are all dismissed, get ready and gear up. We have a doctor to save."

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4- The Heat

**Hey there. So this chapter is hopefully a bit more fast paced then chapter 3, though I am still trying to get the hang out of writing quality action scenes and tbh I think that what I accomplished here is mostly average. So I would really **_**really**_** appreciate any sort of constructive criticism so I can learn from it and get better. Thanks for all those that made this story their favorite and those who followed.**

* * *

„Nyreen."

She wanted to turn to the low and rough voice asking for her attention, but five-fingered hands held her shoulders in place, preventing her from turning, clasping the shoulder locks of her armor shut; the ones she tried to reach for the past minute. The clasps and seals on the back of her armor shut and closed she mental checked everything and satisfied that all was in place she took her weapons out of her locker and placed them on the magnet holsters of her armor. "Daniel."

"Are you prepared for the mission?"

Crossing her arms, she gave a small huff of annoyance. "Are you seriously asking me this?"

The hint of a smirk teased his lips as he reached a hand out and cupped the side of her face, his thumb caressing a mandible. "Of course not."

"I sure hope so."

He closed the distance to her with another step, his head leaning forward as did hers, their foreheads touching. "I know you can take care of yourself Nyreen. Why else would I have left you behind for 2 years?"

Her eyes were closed as she took him in, absorbing his very essence; feeling, smelling, tasting him in every single pore of her body, her hands clutching his hips desperately. "I know. Didn't make it any easier."

He sighed and separated himself from her, took a step back again. "Take care down there."

A Turian smirk appeared on Nyreen's face as she stared him in the eyes. "You _are_ worried about my safety, am I right?"

Dan hesitated for a moment, the only thing betraying the truth, then turned to leave her quarters to walk towards the elevator. "We should head down."

Nyreen followed him, laughing.

* * *

Most of the team was already waiting in the storage and engineering deck where the mako was. The only ones missing were the Shepard and Alenko.

"So Vakarian," a deep voice boomed through the silence. "Think you can get more kills than me?"

The Turian in question sighed. "I do not care for any competition, Wrex."

The Krogan just scoffed at that. "You are obviously afraid to lose."

Garrus' eyes narrowed as he glared at Wrex, a low growl could be heard. "What did you just say?"

Dan could only shake his head. The ex C-Sec officer was so different from any other Turians he ever saw. Hot-headed, falling easily to provocation, nothing like the cool calculating demeanor you would expect from a picture-perfect Turian and Turians were raised to be picture-perfect, to fit that stereotype when people talked about their species.

It was amusing, really.

Wrex just grinned at him toothily, knowing he won. "You heard me, _Turian_."

Another low growl escaping, the Turian bowed to the provocation. "Alright, you are on."

Nyreen turned to look at Dan, a perplexed look in her predatory eyes, her mandibles flared slightly in confusion. "Did that really just happen?"

Dan just gave a low chuckle. "Too easy, wasn't it?"

Nyreen wanted to agree but turned to the elevator as its doors hissed open. Shepard and her Lieutenant stepped out.

Shepard gave them all a nod, satisfied that they were already ready to go. "Alright guys, ETA in 5 minutes, mako squad will be dropped first. Check your omni-tool radio; make sure you got the right frequency so everybody can stay in contact." Waiting as they all checked and double checked their frequency and confirmed that everything was right she looked at Garrus and Nyreen. "Alright, who wants to man the guns?"

"Me!" Nyreen was fast to claim the guns for herself with an enthusiastic look on her face.

Shepard smirked at that. "Vakarian, you will take over the tech part then, checking shields, calibrating while we go, doing some stuff with the electronics, yadda yadda. I'll drive."

"Commander, ETA in 2 minutes." Joker chimed in.

"Right, everybody heard the man, let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

Nyreen didn't know how exactly she expected the drop of the mako would be but she did not expect it to be a free fall of hundreds of meters, the fall marginally slowed down by the thrusters, her heart racing.

Vakarian too was cursing, Turian swear words that could never have made it into the universal translator that every space travelling species had implanted and her thoughts were confirmed with the confused look the Commander was throwing at her fellow Turian.

The drive was pretty uneventful in the beginning until Nyreen spotted a Geth ship that dropped of some infantry troops. She began to shoot with the machine gun in small bursts, taking care to not overheat it. The Geth fired back but their rounds were absorbed by the mako's shields.

"Shields at 80%!" Garrus informed them while Nyreen kept firing, now trying to get a Geth Armature down with the machine gun and the cannon, switching to the other when one was overheated while the Commander tried to maneuver around the pulse cannon that was fired at them.

After the massive shield of the anti-vehicle geth unit finally went down a single cannon shot of the mako was enough to rip right through it, sending metal parts and sparks flying everywhere as it toppled down.

"Shields?" The Commander asked Garrus.

"70%; should be up again at a 100 in around 40 seconds." The Turian answered in his deep flanging voice.

"Good, great job everyone. Let's keep going."

And they did keep going. The Commander was right when she assumed that most units were concentrating on Alenko's squad. They did not encounter more than three to four Geth units at a time- when they encountered any- and then there also was the occasional Armature in between.

Until their path narrowed so much that the mako did not fit through anymore.

"Let's get out; we go the rest of the way by foot. I'll let Joker know to pick up the mako."

* * *

Daniel was glad, that he was capable of making smart decisions. The planet was scorching hot; even the rocks littering the ground beneath his boots were hot, he could feel it and that made him even more glad that he had an environment system in his armor that regulated the temperature inside the armor according to the temperature outside, but it couldn't quite adjust to extreme temperatures- like in Therum. So, he was glad that he went for a helmet and armor that covered his arms, or he wouldn't be able to press himself against the rock that was his cover right now.

"Tali!" Alenko yelled over the gunfire. "Can you hack that sniper?"

She shook her head. "It's too far away!"

The Lieutenant cursed under his breath and then looked at the Gunnery Chief. "Ashley, throw a grenade to that group at two o'clock to drive them out of their cover, Daniel and Tali, overload their shields then let's rain rounds on them!"

Wrex just grunted at that tactic but relented from disobeying or even commenting- for now. Dan was pretty sure that the Krogan wanted to just rush right into the middle of the Geth and destroy them with his bare hands.

Dan prepared his overloading program, as did Tali, the moment Williams threw her grenade over the cover of the Geth. The synthetics left their cover, the blast of the grenade taking out one of them and disabling the shield of two others, leaving another two unscathed. The shields of those were taken overloaded by Tali and Dan and that was when they showered them with their rounds, taking them down quickly.

"Good job." Alenko complimented them, making Tali stand visibly straighter after being praised by the Lieutenant of Commander Shepard. "We should be close to the ruins by now. Let's move out."

They had to deal with a lot of Geth resistance, taking the brunt of it to make it easier for Shepard's team to look for the Doctor, _should_ she have fled outside of the ruins. But they got no word about something like that so far.

So they moved onward and arrived at the ruins- no Geth in sight- and waited.

Dan was just about to tell Alenko to check on the Commander when he heard a Geth ship fly past their position and he was just about to question why it would ignore them when he realized what direction it was flying at.

"Isn't that- "

"Shepard to foot team! A Colossus was just dropped right in front of our nose! It's pinned us down, we need help!"

Kaidan didn't waste any time upon hearing the Commander's message.

"Daniel, Tali; you both come with me, the rest will hold this position!" He activated his omni-tool. "Commander, this is Alenko, I am coming with Tali and Daniel but we need a nav-point!"

Five seconds later his omni-tool blinked, pointing out the position of the Commander and the two Turians. It wasn't far, they realized and no three minutes later they saw the huge Geth, firing its pulse cannon, effectively pinning down Shepard, Nyreen and Garrus.

Finding cover for themselves, the three of them tried to divert its attention from the Commander to give her and her team a little time to breathe.

"Daniel, Tali! Give it whatever you've got; let's fry this thing's shield!" Alenko shouted at them over the gunfire.

All three of them started their overloading programs, aimed at the Colossus and sparks started to fly and they switched to their firearms until they could use their omni-tools again and continued to switch between guns and overloading shields while Sheppard and her squad kept firing, the occasional overloading coming from their side- probably Garrus- until the Colossus' shield finally went down so that they could keep firing until their firearms overheated and the Geth went down.

After it toppled over and the light on its head died Shepard, Nyreen and Garrus peeked over their cover, making sure that they were clear. Satisfied, they moved towards Dan, Alenko and Tali.

"Good job reacting so quickly, LT. Can't believe they dropped that thing just for three men on foot." Shepard glanced at the downed Colossus.

Alenko nodded at her. "The rest of my team waits at the entrance of the ruin."

"Alright then, let's move."

* * *

The moment Shepard, Nyreen and Garrus stepped inside the ruins Nyreen feared that the whole structure would collapse on their heads in any moment. It didn't help that there were still what seemed to be stray Geth in here and there shooting and the rounds colliding with the weakened walls weakening them further did not calm her nerves any further.

They arrived at a really old elevator and stepped inside but it came to a screeching halt, stopping before they reached the ground, leaving a good distance to jump.

"This just keeps getting better and better…" Garrus mumbled next to her."

"We can hold hands and jump together if the distance is too much, Vakarian." Shepard winked at him and Nyreen let out a choked laugh at Garrus' inability to form a coherent reaction.

Nyreen jumped down first, the distance not quite as great as it first seemed to be. She was followed by Garrus first, then the Commander.

They kept walking when a voice startled all of them.

"Hello? Is somebody out there?"

They walked further until they arrived at what seemed to be a large energy barrier, behind which a young Asari was caught inside some sort of sphere.

"Dr. T'soni?" Shepard stepped forward.

"Thank the goddess, you are no Geth. Can you help me please?"

"I am Commander Shepard of the Normandy. I need to ask you first: are you aware that your mother works with the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius?"

The Asari gave an audibly sad sigh. "I don't know what Benezia does, but I swear I am no part of it. I just want to get out of here and I will cooperate, I promise."

Shepard nodded at that and then turned to Nyreen and Garrus. "We need to find a way to get her out of here. Let's look around."

After a few minutes Garrus found a mining laser which they used to carve a whole into the ground and right into the ruin. They went inside and used an elevator to move up.

* * *

"LT, I'm reading movement close by."

Dan checked his own omni-tool and after confirming what Ashley just said he got his assault rifle ready, just as Kaidan ordered everyone to arm up.

There was a Krogan, followed by an entourage of Geth. "Get out of my way; I need to collect an Asari."

"I'm afraid that you are too late." Kaidan answered, not backing down.

"I will see for myself and I don't need you alive. Kill them."

With that the Geth swarmed out, the rounds starting to fly but Dan already fried ones shields and Tali hacked it immediately after, confusing the other Geth and giving them precious moments. Wrex meanwhile charged at the other Krogan, fists flying and heads butting at each other with loud cracks with a force that would shatter the skull of any other species into tiny fragments.

The confusion between the Geth was used by the team to take 3 down, leaving only one hostile and the once hacked one; those were taken down in seconds.

It was only the Krogan left but he was already lying on his back with Wrex' shotgun right in his face, followed by a loud shot and Krogan blood and bits of brain and skull flying everywhere, leaving a huge hole where once a face was.

Suddenly they heard a loud rumble coming from the cave, followed by what felt sounded like a cave in.

But before they could start to panic, there were already Nyreen and Garrus coming out with the Commander supporting an exhausted looking Asari.

Their first mission was a success.

* * *

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